The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
by Sabejias
Summary: This is a novelization of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, with some plot changes on my part. Read and review.
1. Prologue: Legends

**Disclaimer**: I do not own the characters or even all of the plot and I do not claim copyright protection of any part of it. Anyone who has played the game will know what is mine and what belongs to Miyamoto, the genius who created Zelda. All I claim credit, though not official credit, for is the narrator's tone and the dialogue.

**Prologue:**

**Legends**

"Long ago, before the sea rose and covered it up, there was a land called Hyrule. The land was pure, the people were happy, and all considered Hyrule to be the best place in the world. And Hyrule contained a golden power such that any who touched it would get any wish granted. Then evil struck. A seemingly benign man tricked his way into the royal castle and murdered the king, with the legendary Princess Zelda barely escaping with her life, while he got ahold of the golden power. This man of darkness destroyed the castle, murdered the king, and held his evil influence over Hyrule for just under seven years, until a young man clad in green, who became known as the Hero of Time, came to Hyrule's rescue. He slew monster after monster, fighting his way through obstacles in the Temples that had once been the holiest places in Hyrule. The Hero of Time had appeared when the man of darkness was just starting his reign of terror, but ended up getting trapped in the legendary Temple of Time until he was 19, almost old enough to defeat the man of darkness. He and the seven sages, including Princess Zelda, managed to lock the evil man away in the Realm of Evil, and vanished in the process."

"However, after some time, the evil man returned. The people prayed and prayed, but the Hero of Time never returned. It was just the evil man and his evil minions and monsters. And the people prayed. To no avail. The evil man spread his curse over Hyrule and consumed it, filling it with monsters. Then, the three goddesses who had created Hyrule, Din, Farore, and Nayru, blew a wind across Hyrule, covering the land. The people prayed for the Hero of Time to return to them, but he never appeared and Hyrule was drowned.

"What became of that kingdom? None remain who know. The memory of the kingdom vanished, but its legend survives on the wind's breath."

This was the story that Zunari, the famous storyteller of Windfall Island, was telling his captive audience. Most people didn't believe in the legend of Hyrule, but Zunari still had a way of drawing them into the story - making his audience feel the pain of the royal family as they were thrown out of their castle and giving them a taste of the triumph that the Hero of Time felt when he conquered the man of darkness. However, on this night, several years after the famous pirate Tetra went insane, babbling that the legend was actually true, Zunari would not be the only one keeping the audience's attention.

"There's one person who knows," called out a pirate by the name of Gonzo, "who's been there and back - the only one to do it alive."

The other people turned their heads and scoffed at Gonzo, all the while wanting to hear his story.

"It all started just out there," he said, pointing out the window towards a spot on the Great Sea, "when a big bird came flying at our ship and we couldn't shoot it down..."

A/N: I'm not gonna be one of those crazies who insists on getting _x_ number of reviews or I won't add another chapter, but please review. This is my first piece and I really want to know what people think. Negative criticism is just as useful as positive.

For interested readers, if any: I'll be updating every Sunday at 9PM starting next week.

Next Week: Birthday preparations are cut short. 


	2. Chapter 1: Stolen

Congrats to me! Only one hour late! )

**Chapter 1:**

**Stolen**

A big day was coming up. In nine days it would be Link Ventan's twelfth birthday. Birthdays were a special occasion anyway on Outset Island because there were only eleven residents at the time. But in Lorule, a country made up of the islands scattered across the Great Sea, a child's twelfth birthday was a symbol of him or her coming of age and becoming an adult. In honor of the legendary Hero of Time, boys were dressed in green tunics and caps, and girls were given various fancy dresses in honor of the legendary Princess Zelda. Emmeline Ventan was finally done trimming the tunic for her grandson's celebration. Since his parents had left Outset Island when he was young, Emmeline was the main guardian for Link and his sister, Aryll, and she was enthusiastically trying to live up to that in her preparations. In fact, her constant worrying and nagging about the celebrations caused Link to sleep not in their house over on the west side of Outset Island, but on the tall watchtower on the other side of the island.

"LINK!"

He rolled over, desperately hoping that that was just a particularly loud demon in his dream that sounded exactly like Aryll.

"BIG BROTHER! WAKE UP!"

Link turned towards her.

"Grandma wants you to try on your tunic for your party."

He groaned. "Can't you just tell her I'm asleep… or dead? Something?"

"No. Get up you lazy boy! Go try them on!"

"Why? I tried them on yesterday."

"They didn't fit!"

He got up, groaning. He was wearing his favorite shirt – blue, with a picture of a crawfish on it. Aryll watched as he stomped off, muttering under his breath about how unfair it was to wake him up just to go try on that tunic. Grandma Emmeline was waiting in the house.

"Oh Link! You're here! I trimmed it and made it just a bit bigger for you. Try it on!"

Link took the tunic. He had tried it on before and it was always uncomfortable, not just because it was the wrong size, but because it was so hot. He had gotten lucky enough to be born in the summer so he had to wear this thing in sweltering heat of summer on Outset Island. So he went into the other room and tried it on for the whatever'th time.

At least this time it fit.

"It's fine. This fits fine. Can I please take it off now before I burn to death?"

"You can stop being such a grouch. You come of age in nine days. It's a very important day."

"Yeah, but why do I have to wear that thing? It's so hot out that even my crawfish shirt feels too warm."

"It'll just be for one day. At least now you don't have to try it on every day anymore."

Suddenly, cannon shots rang out across the air. Link and Grandma ran outside to see what was happening. A ship was sailing towards the island.

"That's odd. I wasn't expecting the food to come today," said Grandma.

"That's no food. Look at the flag."

The flag on the ship had a skull and crossbones. But the cannon that was firing wasn't aiming for the island. All of the cannon balls were soaring over the twin mountains of Outset. Link followed one with his eyes and saw a sight even more disturbing than a pirate ship at his home island. There was an enormous bird with a horrid mask. It looked like something out of a bad folk tale. The mask was painted to resemble a crown of some sort, with featherlike images pointing towards the back of its head.

"Why are pirates shooting at that bird?" It was Sue-Belle, Sturgeon's granddaughter. She had moved to Outset after Sturgeon suffered a serious heart-attack and she nursed him back to health. She stayed on Outset ever since and came of age there, being the first to do so since Link's father had twenty years before.

The answer to her question suddenly became clear when the pirates hit the bird. There was a young girl clamped in its claw, which opened in shock when the cannonball hit it. The girl let out an earsplitting scream before plummeting into the woods on the western mountain on Outset. Aryll, who had come down from the watchtower, gasped.

"Someone has to help her!"

Clothes forgotten, Link remembered that he was almost of age. This was his responsibility. Mesa was busy with his crops, Abe and Rose had their kids, Joel and Zill, to deal with, Sue-Belle had to deal with her grandfather, Sturgeon Tempora, and Sturgeon and his brother Orca were too old. That left Link.

Over to the east side of the island. Up the curving path. Through the trees. Smack into the tall wooden fence. Link landed flat on his back and stared up at the fence from his unusually low vantage point. He wondered why he had never come up here before. There was so much about Outset Island he didn't know. Why was this fence here, for instance? Well, he would have to find a way to get around it… or to remove it. It was a solid board of wooden planks. There was no way to get through.

Except to break it down. Or cut.

Link had a sword at his house that Orca had given him. Orca was a swordsman in his youth, but after he sustained a serious injury, he had to spend almost all of his money on the treatment and move in with his brother, Sturgeon. They couldn't stand each other, especially once Orca started giving Link one-on-one sword lessons. Link wasn't very good. The sword never felt natural in his hands and often, when he swung it, the sword would go flying, breaking something in Orca's room.

Even so, he couldn't think of any other way of getting through the fence.

So he ran back down the path, across the bridge to the west side of the island where his house was, into his house, up to his room where the sword was, and straight back to the fence, brushing aside questions about what was going on. It took very little clumsy handling of the sword to cut down enough boards to get through, and Link headed the rest of the way up the mountain. The top of the island was similar geographically to the bottom. There were two peaks that were connected by a bridge. But the bridge on the top was much more frightening because it was about 100 feet in the air.

Link started to walk across the bridge until it swayed. He froze. It stopped swaying after a few seconds and Link walked the rest of the length of the bridge, pausing every few seconds when it swayed. By the time got to the other side of the bridge, he had almost forgotten why he was up there in the first place. Why was he up here? The bird. The girl!

Ahead of him was a wall that was clearly not formed by natural means. He sensed something almost unreal or magical about it. It was into this wall that the girl had fallen. He ran in.

The girl was hanging by the back of her shirt on a tree branch. He could see now, though, why the pirates were concerned about her safety. She appeared to be a pirate herself, albeit young and female. She had a bandana wrapped around her head with a bunch of hair tied up in a spiral pattern on top of her head. Link felt simultaneously relieved that she was okay, surprised that such a young girl could be an important enough pirate that her fellows would chase a giant bird all the way to Outset Island to save her, and confused about why a giant bird would have chosen her of all people to pick up and carry away.

Link looked up, but the tree was up on a ledge. He had no idea how to get to it, but he figured that there must be a way to get around, so he went the other way. On his way, he saw an enormous boulder, about the size of his house. He felt a tingling sensation throughout his body, as if there was something unreal or magical around. The sign nearby had characters on it that were completely indecipherable to Link. He shook off the magical sensation and kept going.

Link saw the tree, but he noticed, for the first time, that he and the mysterious pirate girl were not the only ones there. There were also several piglike things, which he later found out were called Moblins, jabbing spears at the tree in an effort to knock the girl down. Before he quite realized what he was doing, Link gave a shout, drew his sword, and ran at the Moblins.

Since Link had no idea what he was doing, the only factor in his favor was the element of surprise, which should have been completely undone by the battlecry but for the utter stupidity of the Moblins. He rushed at them before they quite knew what was going on and ran his sword right through the one closer to him. The second one was slightly quicker on the uptake and pulled its spear out of the tree, hitting Link with it on the way out. In his shock, Link dropped the sword and fell over. The Moblin swung its spear down towards him, but he rolled over just in time, snatching up the dead Moblin's spear. When the living Moblin swung its spear down towards Link again, he was ready with his spear, jamming it right up into the Moblin's chin. The Moblin took a startled step back before collapsing onto the tree. Link got up, shaking, and took his sword. It was covered in purple blood. He wiped it as hard as he could on the grass, but he couldn't quite get the purple tinge off of the blade.

The girl woke up. Link wondered for a moment what the scene would look like from her vantage point, but then he realized that she was about to fall, possibly to her death. She realized the same thing apparently, but her reaction only served to speed up the process. She struggled. She wiggled on her branch, trying to get herself off. The branch broke and she plummeted to the ground.

Alarmed, Link ran over to her and checked for a pulse. There was one. In fact, she seemed to have gotten incredibly lucky, not appearing to have broken any bones.

"MISS TETRA!" One of the pirates was standing at the entrance to this bizarre wooded enclosure. "MISS TETRA??"

The girl, Tetra, groaned and sat up, wincing in pain as she moved. The other pirate ran over, but Link and Tetra were up on the ledge.

"Give her this," said the pirate, handing Link a bottle of a reddish potion. Link fed it to the girl and the change occurred immediately. She sat up and her eyes, which had before been filled with pain and tears, seemed to burn with fire.

"Okay Gonzo! Let's get out of here! Let's find that bird and give it a good thrashing!"

"But, Miss Tetra? What about the boy?" he asked, indicating Link.

"Oh he's fine," she said dismissively.

Link stifled a cry of outrage. He had just risked his life for her and she didn't even acknowledge him? Biting his tongue to avoid saying something that would get her, a pirate, to kill him, he followed them angrily out of the enclosure.

Aryll was standing on the bridge. She had followed Gonzo up, but Grandma had forbidden her to cross the bridge. However, the sight of Link emerging safely from the enclosure made her forget and she ran across the bridge, happily yelling "BIG BROTHER!"

Gonzo gasped, pointing. Aryll didn't notice the bird until it was too late. It flew majestically past the bridge, evidently hoping to pick up the girl that it had dropped earlier. And Link noticed, just a bit too late, that Aryll and Tetra looked very similar. He ran out on the bridge as fast as he could, shouting at her to watch out. She noticed once the bird was practically on top of her. Link's foot caught something on the bridge and he fell, not caring about anything other than getting his sister and without thinking, he leapt towards the bird, which was already far away. It was only after he was halfway down that he realized what a stupid thing it was to jump.

A/N: Thanks to Sakurelle and The Princess of the Universe. Your encouragement was really helpful.

Next Week: A shadow demon, spotlights, a faulty cannon, and another bad experience with a wall.

Poll: When characters speak in Hylian (which we can't understand), the game leaves it in Hylian for the first playthrough, but when you play the second game (the same as the first, except with a few minor variations) the Hylian text is translated. Should I put it directly into the script in English, or should I put it in Hylian and leave you wondering about the meaning for a week or two?


	3. Chapter 2: A Case of Responsibility

A/N: From now on, no strict update schedules for me... I'm not organized enough.

**Cha****pter 2:**

**A Case of Responsibility**

"Is he okay?"

"I think so, his arm doesn't look _that_ bad."

"Well how can you know for sure?"

"If I do this, it will turn purple if it's broken. That would be really bad though."

Link felt a wave of pain spread through his entire body, starting at his arm. Mesa, Outset Island's self-appointed doctor, saw the purple arm that he was hoping not to see.

"Oops."

He grinned sheepishly at Link's face, which was glaring at him from the ground.

"What's going on?" it was Sturgeon, the wise one. He was old and bald, except for the white, full beard that hung all the way from his wrinkled face to his belt, which was pretty impressive given that his belt had fallen down while he was running over to see what had happened.

It took a while for Abe to explain to Sturgeon what had happened, but Sturgeon immediately sought out Tetra, which wasn't difficult because the pirate ship was rather large and for some reason, it hadn't left yet. Link, who had propped himself up on his good arm, couldn't help but laugh at the sight of little old Sturgeon hobbling with his cane over to the looming ship.

Link settled back, thinking about his arm. This sucked. His arm was broken, most likely, and he would have to come of age in a cast. At least he wouldn't be able to put on that infernal tunic. Oh how Aryll would laugh.

Aryll.

That was why his arm was broken in the first place. Link jumped up as fast as his injured arm would let him and ran over to the pirate ship.

Sturgeon was standing next to Tetra, and Link noticed once he was just about next to them, that he was about to walk over to where he was lying.

"These pirates have agreed to bring you as far as the port at Greatfish Isle and to lend you fare for the trip to Windfall Island for a good look at that arm."

"No. I want to find my sister."

Sturgeon looked shocked. "But your arm... you need to get that looked at!"

"Aryll just got kidnapped. We need to find her. You-" he pointed at Tetra and Gonzo, "need to help me find her!"

"We have no idea where she is," said Tetra. "How do you expect us to be able to help?"

Sturgeon looked down for a moment. "Do you have any idea where she might be?"

"It doesn't matter. Your sister isn't our responsibility!"

"Of course it is." A new voice had sounded. Link looked around for a moment before he realized that the owner of that voice was Quill, the Rito postman who deliver news and mail to Outset Island. "Am I not right when I say that you pirates brought that bird here - the one that took Link's poor sister?"

"Well... yeah" Tetra muttered, "But I still don't see what that has to do with this."

"Absolutely everything!" Quill continued, addressing Tetra, "That bird has been sighted at many other places around Lorule, kidnapping young girls with pointed ears. Much like Aryll. And much like yourself, miss Fearsome Pirate. It seems that the bird mistook Aryll for you and took her to its master in your place."

Tetra looked shocked, annoyed that someone was blunt enough to put it that way, and slightly guilty about the fact that she knew that Quill was right. "Even so, what do you expect me to do about it? It's not like we know where that bird goes."

"True," said Quill, "but I have heard reports of strange activity around the Forsaken Fortress."

With those words, a look of pure terror flashed across Tetra's and Gonzo's faces.

"We - we can't go there."

"Well you have to find some way to get Link there. His sister could be in grave danger."

"Well all right!" said Tetra, scowling in an effort to hide her fear, "but only once he gets some kind of shield. There's no way that sword alone can protect him."

"I have a shield. Don't worry about that." Link was referring to his family's coat of arms. According to his grandmother, that shield was supposed to be the very same shield that the Link of the legend of Hyrule used, but now wasn't the time to think about it. He ran over to his house. Grandma was inside, standing next to the fireplace and humming.

"Grandma?"

"Oh yes, honey? Would you like some soup?" She turned around and gasped. "Good Goddesses! What happened to your arm!?"

Link realized that since he had fallen just after Aryll had been kidnapped, people had been too preoccupied tending to his arm to do such a minor task as telling Emmeline that her granddaughter had just been kidnapped. Link filled her in on the details.

"Oh my goodness! You need to see a doctor! So that it doesn't get worse! We'll get the police on it now!"

"Grandma, the police are ineffective ninnies. I have to do this myself. My arm isn't bothering me at all." As he said it, his arm twinged a little and he tried his hardest not to wince.

"Of course it is! You're just trying to be brave."

Link rolled his eyes. "I have to save Aryll. I'm almost of age."

"Promise me you'll see a doctor as soon as you find her?"

Wanting to get out of that house as soon as possible and trying his hardest not to roll his eyes again, Link said "I promise."

Grandma stood up and walked over to the cabinet. Link ran upstairs to grab the shield off the wall. It wasn't there.

He went downstairs. Grandma was holding the shield out to him. "I took it down to clean it yesterday. I was expecting you to wear it when you came of age." She sighed sadly. "I guess you're wearing it a bit early."

Link took the shield, gave Grandma a quick kiss on the cheek, and ran outside to Tetra and the pirates.

"All right. I'm ready."

He boarded the ship. Link felt slightly dazed as the pirates went to work, scurrying around, hoisting sails and shouting things that were certainly English, but that Link couldn't for the life of him understand. But that didn't matter just now. He stood at the stern watching as Outset Island shrunk in the distance; as his grandmother, whom he might never see again, disappeared on the horizon.

Next... Update: A Warm Welcome at the Forsaken Fortress.


	4. Chapter 3: The Shadow

**Chapter 3:**

**The Shadow**

As one pain, that of becoming separated from all he knew and held dear, softened, another pain, from his broken arm, grew and consumed his energy. In order to take his mind off that pain, he spent some time examining the sword that Orca had given him. The blade seemed normal. The hilt had a pattern of three triangles forming one larger triangle. The two on the bottom were red and blue and the one on the top was green. Looking closely, Link saw that the triangles were made up tiny stones: green emeralds, red rubies, and blue sapphires. On the other side was the same pattern in gold.

"Pretty, huh?" Link jumped. Tetra smirked at him. "You gonna just sit there and stare at your little sword, or do want to fix that arm?

"What?" How could a pirate fix his arm?

"C'mere." Tetra held up a small bottle. It had a tiny person inside with tiny, delicate wings. "This is a fairy." The word struck a note in Link's head. Where had he heard it before? "They have amazing healing powers. Watch." She opened the bottle and let the fairy fly around Link's arm. The pain vanished and he could feel his bones clicking back into place. "Go downstairs now, kid. If you're lucky you may find some treasure. Go see Niko. He'll tell you what to do."

Dumbfounded at this display of kindness, albeit cushioned with harsh language, and wondering whether this was a trick to kill him or take his money, Link headed downstairs and tried to open the door. It was locked.

"You can't go in there."

"Really? Why not... Gonzo, right?"

"Yeah. That's Miss Tetra's room. You looking for Niko?"

Link nodded.

"He's over there." Gonzo pointed to another door opposite Tetra's room. Link headed over and tried that door. It opened easily and he was about to step in when he stopped, shocked.

The floor of this room was about ten feet below the floor outside the room. There were piles of boxes in random places throughout the room that were stacked as high as the door. On the one farthest from the door was a tiny pirate with two enormous front teeth. He was wearing clothes that were way too big for him, including a massive yellow shirt with a blue skull-and-crossbones design on it. Niko had apparently painted two large front teeth in red on the skull, possibly to make it look more like himself.

The goofy little pirate grinned widely at Link. "Hey swabbie! Did Miss Tetra send you down here?"

Thoroughly lost and confused, Link barely managed to nod.

"Well do I have a challenge for you!" Niko waved his hand around, indicating the piles of boxes. "You see all these boxes? Well, you can use the hanging lanterns to swing around, from box to box. If you can swing over here, then you can have something really valuable."

Link looked at the tiny little pirate in disbelief. How were those ropes going to support him? How was he not supposed to light himself on fire from the lanterns? Well, treasure was always nice and worse came to worse, if he lit himself on fire, there was plenty of water around the ship to put himself out. He took a running jump and grabbed onto the rope just between him and the nearest box.

For the brief instant that he was holding onto the rope, he noticed two things that comforted him a great deal. The first was that the rope, though it was only mostly used for holding up a lantern, was actually of a very strong material, and the second was that the lanterns were covered in glass, so his clothes wouldn't catch fire.

Link landed on the pile of boxes nearest the door. There was no rope in front of him, but one to his left. He leapt for that rope and swung over to the box. The rope this time was on Link's right. He took that rope to the next pile of boxes, but after that, there was no pile of boxes close enough to swing to. How would he do this? There were two ropes in front of him, one in front of the other. He decided to try it, even though it probably wouldn't work. He swung himself as hard as he could and let go. For a brief instant, he could feel himself falling, but before he hit the ground, he felt the next rope in front of him, and, more out of instinct than reason, he grabbed onto it and held on for dear life. He swung back once before swinging forward and landing on the pile of boxes.

He sat down for a moment. He looked towards where he thought Niko had been and realized that he had been standing on this pile. There was a door a short ways away, but there were no ropes directly between here and there. There was one rope off to the left, but that would take him in slightly the wrong direction. But there were no other ropes to jump to, so he leapt. Swinging on this rope, he noticed a rope off to his right that, from the middle of this rope's swing, would take him straight to the door, through which he could now see Niko, looking just as goofy as ever. Link tried to move his body so as to slow the rope and it worked. He stopped swinging.

Now to start up again in the right direction. Link twisted his body and contorted himself in order to get himself swinging again, this time towards the door. He swung towards the next rope, let go, and just like before, swung back once, and jumped right through the door on the swing forward.

Niko was standing there, his goofy grin tempered by the fact that Link had passed the test, which he really hadn't been expecting. Link was expecting gold, or even rupees, as his treasure reward, but instead, the silly-looking pirate handed him a small purple bag.

"It's called a Spoils bag," said Niko, "It magically shrinks things to fit inside it. Plus, it had hundreds of compartments, so you can store things like Chu-chu jelly and Joy Pendants separately."

"I went through all that and all you have for me is a bag?" asked Link, disappointed.

"What good is stuff if you have nowhere to put it? You'll find rupees all over the place, especially in the Forsaken Fortress. There used to be a gang of pirates who lived in there, and they can't have fit all their treasure onto one or even two ships. Trust me, you'll have plenty of stuff."

"KID! WE'RE HERE! GET YOUR BEHIND UP HERE!"

Suddenly remembering, again, that he was trying to rescue his sister, Link raced up to the top deck, almost expecting to see his sister waiting there. Once he got there, he was a bit dismayed to see that Aryll was not, in fact, standing there, but the sight he did see was almost as impressive. The Forsaken Fortress consisted of one large looming, crooked tower, a number of smaller ones, and three bright spotlights. Illuminated by the spotlights, the towers looked especially striking against the night sky.

But, as it is with life, there was a problem. Each spotlight had two lights attached to it. One was aimed at the towers, but the other was pointed towards the ocean around the Fortress. Tetra looked at the display for a moment.

"There's no way we're gonna be able to get close enough to drop you off, kid."

"Then I'll swim!" shouted Link, more bravely than he felt.

"Yeah right. They'll start shooting at you as soon as they see you... no! I have an idea."

"What is it?"

"Gonzo! Get the cannon ready!"

"Cannon...?" asked Link.

Another pirate, Senza, grabbed the young boy and carried him over to what he now recognized as a cannon. He plopped Link inside as Gonzo dropped gunpowder in. Tetra came up to him and said, "Look kid, don't struggle. If you really want to save your sister, this is the only way to get in. We do it all the time. It's a piece of cake."

She turned to Gonzo, who held up a lit match. "THREE! TWO! ONE!"

The world exploded. For a few seconds Link couldn't see or hear anything, but he felt the sickening halt as he smashed into the wall of the Forsaken Fortress. He fell backwards, slowly at first, and like a rag doll, toppled down and landed with a splash that he could barely hear, in the water. Barely conscious, he stumbled towards the land just in front of him and climbed up onto solid ground. As he fell deep into himself again, he dimly heard footsteps approaching. He hoped that it was his sister, coming to wake him up from what had become a horrible nightmare.

He woke up in a dungeon of some sort. The only door that he could see was barred. So Tetra had betrayed him. She had tossed him into this trap and let her minions capture him. Now she was going to kill him. How could he even be sure that Aryll was here? He could hear Tetra laughing at him even now.

Suddenly he realized that he wasn't imagining it. "TETRA! WHERE ARE YOU?!" he bellowed.

"Shush! Quiet you little moron! They'll hear you!" It sounded like it was coming from inside his horrible green tunic. He reached in and grabbed around, but all he could find was that lame bag that Niko had given him.

"I saw what happened. You should still have your shield, but your sword fell just in front of the door where I think your sister is being kept. I cast invisibility spells on your sword and shield so that the Moblin guards wouldn't take them. I would have done it on you, but it's impossible to make someone other than yourself invisible. Now here's the important part. You are, right now, in a prison cell in the Forsaken Fortress. Now you got lucky. There's a secret passage between your cell and the other one, which happens to be empty and unlocked right now. If you hurry up, you'll be able to get out of there."

"How are you talking to me?"

"Reach into the bag, you idiot!" He did, and found nothing but a small stone, which he took out and was about to toss away when he heard Tetra's voice emanating from it. "Found it, did ya? Took you long enough."

"What the _insert word of choice here_ is this?"

"My mom gave it to me before she died. I have another one that lets me see what you're doing and, obviously, you can hear me through it. Now are you going to get out of there or what?"

"Where's the secret passage?"

Tetra told him. It was behind a large rock that was about half the size of Link. Heaving and panting, he shoved the rock out of the way and crawled into the small tunnel that faced him. As he moved, he could feel the darkness of the tunnel closing in on him. He somewhat trusted her now, but he still couldn't shake that nagging worry that the pirate was luring him into a trap.

He came out of the wall into another cell identical to the one he had been imprisoned in. The only difference that he could see was that the door to this one was open. He ran out, his distrust of Tetra completely gone, and looked around, trying to figure out where to go.

"Ok! So the first thing you're gonna need to do is kill the Bokoblins that are manning the spotlights."

"Bokoblins?"

"Oh for the goddess's sakes! You don't know what Bokoblins are?" Tetra apparently took Link's silence as confirmation of his ignorance. "Bokoblins are like Moblins, but smaller, faster, and-"

"What are Moblins?"

"Those things that you killed were Moblins, you ignorant git! Now listen! The Bokoblins are running the spotlights and you need to kill them or knock them out so that they won't find you with their spotlights, because if they do, they'll start shooting arrows at you. And they have really good aim."

Link's blood froze. "How do I kill it without my sword?"

"There's a stick on the ground next to the door. Take it and hit the Bokoblin on the head with it before it notices you. You won't have to kill it."

Tetra guided Link through a hallway and out a door out to a balcony, where he then climbed up a ladder and walked a ways more before turning a corner a sudden corner and ending up right in front of an enormous lit pipe, which Link took to be the spotlight. He crouched down, holding the stick, and snuck around until he was standing behind the purple creature with huge ears that was manning the light. Creeping up behind it, he raised his stick and brought it crashing down on the Bokoblin's head.

"Excellent! Now there are just two more!"

Guiding him around the fortress, Tetra helped Link knock the other two Bokoblins out of their senses, making it safe for him to travel up to where Aryll was supposedly being kept.

"The door should be on your left, but before you go in, You're going to need to find a disguise."

"Why?" asked Link.

"Because there are Moblins in there."

"How do you know all this?"

"I can see you and the Moblins and everyone else on my map."

"Maps can show people moving?"

"I'm good at making maps. I slipped a Sea Chart into your bag also. The neat thing about it is that it will tell you where you are and where I am, just in case you need to find me, although it won't show me if I don't want to be found. Now why don't you try using that barrel over there?"

Link looked around for a barrel, but before he could see one, he walked straight into it, falling over and making a good bit of noise.

"Idiot! Get inside the barrel now!"

He crouched down and pulled the open end of the barrel down over him just in time. The door was suddenly flung wide open and Link could see, through the tiny gaps between the boards in the barrel, an enormous Moblin stumble out. It glanced stupidly at the barrel for a second and looked around to see where the noise had come from. Link lifted the weight of the barrel gently while the Moblin wasn't looking and scurried through the open door. The Moblin turned back to where the barrel had been moments earlier, but Link couldn't help thinking that its look of puzzlement was due more to its forgetting why it was out there than the fact that the barrel had moved. It stomped back into the room, closing the door behind it and as it started walking towards Link, concealed in his barrel, Link was able to get a look around. It was a U-shaped hallway, with a boat hanging inside the U. There was a huge door opposite the boat, and once the Moblin had passed him, he got up and started towards it.

Once he got to the door, he realized that he would have to open it, and in order to do that, he would need to take off the barrel. Once the Moblin was looking away, he lifted the bottle off of himself and pushed the door open. It creaked. It creaked loudly. The Moblin heard, and with a cry of rage, it rushed towards him. Thinking fast, Link ran through the door, pushed it shut, and jammed the large stick that he had used to knock out the Bokoblins into it the handles so it wouldn't open. He heard the Moblin banging against the door and he could see that the stick was starting to buckle, so he took off as fast as he could away from the door.

"Nicely done!" said Tetra from the stone, startling him. He had put the stone and the bag back into his tunic. "Don't bother taking it out again. You'll just lose it. Anyway, that was good thinking with the stick, but the Moblin'll break through eventually. On the bright side, you're almost at your sword. I'm taking the invisibilty off it now."

Link saw a gleam of silver not too far away and sped up, but at that moment, he heard a crash. The Moblin had broken through the door and was running towards him. And it was faster than he was. A lot faster. He could see the sword. He was close. He could see it. He could feel the enormous hand of the Moblin grabbing him by the throat and lifting him up. He could taste his fear. If only he had his sword in his hand, he could save himself. But the Moblin had him and was about to skewer him with the spear. Link found himself concentrating on the sword, distracting himself from the fact that he was going to become little boy on a stick for the Moblin within the next few seconds.

And suddenly the sword _was_ in his hand. This startled him so much that he promptly dropped it. Suddenly, he heard a howl of pain and felt himself crashing to the ground. Feeling that he was not at all seriously injured, he looked around for his sword. He saw it, point down, lodged in the Moblin's foot. Wrenching it out, Link turned to face the monster waving the sword threateningly. The huge pig-like creature took one look at the fierce little boy holding the sword that was far too big for him and ran the other way. Shaking with relief and shock, Link turned to the third large door he had encountered in this Forsaken Fortress.

"I didn't know you could do magic." said Tetra's voice, sounding surprised.

Link made some incomprehensible sounds, but Tetra understood.

"You pulled your sword to you. That's magic. Why didn't you just do that earlier. It would have saved a lot of trouble."

"I didn't know I could. I bet I couldn't do it again."

"Of course you could... you just need to concentrate on the object you're looking for. It'll come right to you. For instance." Link's shield started to pull away from him, but he grabbed it and pulled it back. "Most people don't think to do that, but it's good to put protective spells on you. I can't do it from a distance, but I can teach you how-"

"Not now! Where's my sister?"

"Right through that door, but-"

Link pulled the door open and went through.

"Big Brother?"

Link grinned. Even though it had only been a few hours since Aryll had been taken, it felt like they hadn't seen each other for several years. Link ran towards the cell that was holding Aryll and two other girls whom Link didn't recognize and started fiddling with the lock. Aryll began telling the other girls how she knew that her big brother would come save them until one of the two, the short, ugly, dark haired one, screamed and pointed up at something.

Link turned around and saw the bird that had kidnapped Aryll swooping down. He tried to run, but the bird grabbed Link in its one of its talons. As he rose into the air, he could hear his sister shouting "BIG BROTHER! BIG BROTHER!", but he could also hear someone else shouting his name. Someone who felt much like she was much closer to him...

But the last thing he saw before passing out was not his sister or the bird. The last thing he saw was the person inside a wooden structure that was balanced on top of the Fortress. That person was wearing long black robes over a blood-red shirt. His eyes glowed yellow and he waved his arm, as if waving the bird away. But what Link noticed the most about him was a mark on his right hand, a familiar mark with three triangles, one above the other two, forming one larger one.

A/N: Thank you to Sakurelle, Princess, Ant423, DaemonChild, and Kookekooke. Really encouraging. I hope you enjoyed this next installment... and I hope the next one comes soon.


	5. Chapter 4: Windfall

**Chapter 4:**

**Windfall**

_A great bird... fire... a dragon... the triangles... Aryll..._

"Wake up Link."

A voice? What was going on? Link felt like he was back on the ship - the rocking was starting to make him sick.

"Come on! Pull yourself together. We have work to do."

Finally, Link managed to open his eyes. He was in a tiny boat that was just touching the shore, which was just inside a small cave. He didn't see anyone else around.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"You are surprisingly dull-witted." At this point, a part of the boat that Link had taken to be a random design on the front turned around and faced him. It was a large, red lion's head that was large enough to eat Link almost whole. Startled, Link jumped back, and since it was a very small boat, toppled out into the water.

"Did I startle you?" After calmly observing Link's silence for a few moments, the boat continued, "I supposed that it's only natural. Alas, as far and wide as Lorule extends, I am the only boat upon it that can speak. I am the King of Red Lions, one of the few survivors from the Golden Age of Hyrule."

Remembering suddenly the events of the night before, for it was clearly morning now, Link checked his tunic for the magic bag and stone. He found them immediately and shook the magic stone, shouting Tetra's name into it.

"That won't work." Link stared at the lion's head. "Stones like that only work in area that are heavy with magic. When you and the girl who owns the other part of that stone were both at the Forsaken Fortress, the stone worked, but unless you both are in magical areas, which this island is not, the stone won't work."

"Meanwhile, you must be wondering about the events of last night."

Suddenly regaining control of his tongue, Link started firing off questions.

"Patience. First, since the girls of this island, Mila and Maggie, were kidnapped by the bird, I have been keeping a watch on the Forsaken Fortress. What you were trying to accomplish was brave, but foolhardy. You have no idea of the power of the one who resides in that fortress, do you?"

"No, but he can't be that powerful or he would have killed me."

"That, young one, is because of us. His name, which people feared to speak all throughout Hyrule before it drowned, was Ganon. Long ago, he tried to steal the power of the Goddesses, a power known as the Triforce and cast the land into darkness, but he failed, for which we should be thankful, because the Triforce split into three and cast him into the Realm of Evil. I don't know why the seal has been broken since then, but Ganon has returned to the world again, although not in full power. Thanks to my alerting Valoo and Jabun of the pirates' arrival at the Forsaken Fortress, we were able to save you from the bird, which was undoubtedly going to kill you and eat you."

"Who are Valoo and Jabun?"

"Other survivors."

"Are they also boats?"

"I will assume that this is because of your stressful day yesterday, but I have already told you that I am the only talking boat on these waters! Now listen. You showed great courage back there, and there is something that I need you to do. I need you to help me gather the Pearls of the Goddesses so that I can open a portal between here and Hyrule. I need to be able to get through in order to save Lorule from Ganon. And it is possible that you may need to get through as well. There is something that is telling me that you may be important in this venture."

"Really? So what do you need me to do?"

"First I need you to find me a sail."

The mere simplicity of this request came as such a shock to Link that he was unable to speak for almost a whole minute.

"W...W...What?"

"I will need a sail. You see, in the fight between Valoo and Helmaroc King, my sail was burned to a crisp. But I'm sure you'll be able to find something up on the island."

"Helmaroc King is the bird?"

"Indeed."

"Now where are we?"

"We're at Windfall Island, which is, I believe, the capital of Lorule."

Link was again shocked. He had never been here - it was such a busy and proper place. He preferred the quiet of his home.

"Well, what are you waiting for?"

"Ok, I'm going!"

Link scrambled out of the boat and headed up towards the town center. What he saw first was an enormous archway that had letters on it that he couldn't understand, although they looked somewhat familiar. Where had he seen letters like that before?

"Nobody can read those. Our parents all told us that those letters stand for "_Kakariko_", which they say means "Fall of the Wind", hence Windfall Island. Of course, we have no way of knowing whether they're right... Are you new here?"

Link stared at the talkative stranger. He wondered if everyone here was this nice.

"Um... yeah. I'm Link. I'm actually not planning on staying here for long. Have you, by any chance, seen a sail anywhere?"

"I'm Anton, by the way. And no, I haven't seen a sail. You might try asking those sailors over there," Anton waved in the general direction of the docks, "Or you could try the strange man who washed up on the shore unconscious yesterday. I thought he was already dead, but it turns out I was wrong."

"Thanks, I'll try them. It was nice meeting you," said Link.

He hurried over to the docks, but on his way, he heard a man crying and begging someone to save his daughter. Link approached cautiously.

"Excuse me, sir?"

"Who are you? Can you save my dear precious Maggie? She was out playing with Mila and suddenly this huge bird comes out of nowhere... and..." he burst into tears.

"I'm Link. My sister was also captured by the bird, and I'm just here to find something. Would you be able to get a sail for me?"

"Oh if you can find her! I'll go see what I can do."

"I know she's alive Mr... um..."

"Jerrisham. And how would you know that?"

"I've been to the place where they're keeping her. She and Mila are fine. They're just scared."

"I'll go find Alim. He'll be able to find a sail."

And without another word, Mr. Jerrisham ran off, in much higher spirits. Link headed off towards the sailors and the docks, but as it turned out, the sailors, except for one of their number who turned out to be Gonzo, had all retired from sailing and had sold all of their equipment. Discouraged, Link headed into the town center to see if he could find a store that sold such equipment.

After passing through the arch, there was a door to his immediate right. It had a simple picture of a potion on it, but something pulled at Link and he went in. Inside was a dismal ly lit room, filled with pleasant vapors and a man who looked like he hadn't eaten in months. A small sign on the counter in front of him indicated that he was called Doc Bandam.

"Um... What kinds of potions do you have?"

Doc Bandam spoke with a wheeze that could have been expected of someone of his appearance. "I am largely in the business of making red and green potions, but I cannot sell you anything unless you have a bottle to put it in."

"Oh. I don't actually have a bottle."

"Then I'm sorry, but I cannot help you. Move along, please."

Slightly insulted by Doc Bandam's manner, slightly intoxicated by the fumes in the shop, Link wandered back out into the town center, where, head now clear, he saw a number of people walking about. But there was one person who stood out particularly. He was short and fat and wore an enormous purple coat. Link supposed that this must be the strange shipwrecked man. He was standing behind a counter of his own underneath a building, and Link walked over to it.

"Hello. I'm Link and I was wondering if you had a sail that I could use."

"Ah, m'boy! Zunari's the name! In fact, I do have a sail, but before I sell it to you, I must tell you a story."

"Mr. Zunari-"

"Just Zunari, m'boy."

"Ok then Zunari, can you make it really short? I don't have a lot of time."

"Sure thing, son. Yesterday, I was sailing along, towards Windfall Island, where I was planning to retire. You see, I've had a long and successful carreer as a travelling merchant, but now, I am tired and need to settle down. But as I was sailing, I saw a most amazing sight. I saw, up in the air, two giant birds in battle. One of them was pretty fat. The fat one breathed fire at the other one, which dropped something as it dodged to avoid the fire. I started to head over to see what it was, but as I was sailing, another burst of fire aimed at the bird that had dropped whatever hit my own ship. Wrecked, and carrying nothing but my sail, which somehow survived the fire, I floated to shore here. I want to start up a small business here, but in order to do that, I need to get some finances, so I cannot part with my sail for any less than 80 rupees."

"80?? I don't have that much!"

"You do now!" boomed a deep voice from behind Link. There was an auburn-haired man who was about 5 feet tall and almost as wide. He was followed by Mr. Jerrisham, whom Link had met earlier. "Alim Press is the name. Philip here asked me to help you find a sail. I see you've found one already, so if you'll allow me," and he took out a number of various colored rupees and placed them on the counter in front of Zunari. As far as Link could tell, there were far more than 80 rupees there. "That should be quite enough to start your business."

Mr. Press and Mr. Jerrisham led Link back towards the arch with his newfound sail. Mr. Press then said, "My daughter Mila was also kidnapped by the bird that you mentioned. Please use this sail to find her."

Link looked at him, a little surprised that both Mr. Press and Mr. Jerrisham seemed so willing to put the fates of their daughters into the hands of an almost 12-year-old boy.

As if seeing the question in Link's eyes, Mr. Press said, "I spoke to the red boat you have in the little cave down there," waving his hand to point towards where the King of Red Lions was waiting, "and it seems to believe that you are the only hope for Lorule. I have faith in you."

Link stared stupidly at him, but Mr. Jerrisham snapped him out of it. "Go! Save our daughters! Save your sister! Go!"

Without another word, Link turned and ran towards the cave where the King of Red Lions was waiting for him. When he got there, he held up the sail for the red boat to see before rigging it up on the pole that the Kind of Red Lions had produced from just behind its neck.

"Ok, Link Ventan! Are you ready to prepare yourself to rescue your sister?"

"Yes, definitely."

"Then let us go. The wind blows from the west, and the first place we must go is Dragon Roost Island, which is due east of here. Let us hope that the winds do not change..."

A/N: Thank you to Shostakovich and Sakurelle. Come on everyone else! Review! A postive review will make my day better and a negative one will make the story better! Rant over, hope you enjoyed this chapter!


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